FULL MATCH | Ying Han vs Zhu Yuling | WS SF | WTT Champions Doha 2026

And I think this is what you're going to see, is Zhu Yuling using all her experience. It's very tempting when you play a defensive player to try and crack through the ball as hard as you can. And as we saw, Wang Manyu was doing damage with it, but there's only so many times you can do that. Slow, high arching spin that goes into the backhand from Zhu Yuling. She's exceptionally intelligent. She is. It must take a lot of self-control not to just smack through those slow balls. It absolutely does. And don't get me wrong, we're going to see that. When Zhu Yuling thinks the opportunity is there to come through and really crack through the ball, she will. But she knows she can't do that every point. Very draining on the cardio. But what's made Hangyin so dangerous, especially here in Doha, is she's picked the right moments to attack. Primarily a defensive player, as we're seeing. But she can come in with the short pips and attack, and she has to. She has to mix the rhythm here. And what's interesting about that is the ball placement on the wide forehand side of Zhu Yuling. Absolutely. Zhu Yuling loves to cover that centre line of the table. She uses short steps, either left or right. That was absolutely hacked with backspin off the normal black rubber of Hangyin. You can see he hits that one with the red side, the short pips, that one. It's almost like a trap. She sends it up a little bit higher, but she knows she's absolutely fizzed it. And again, Zhu Yuling. To me it looked like she played a float serve, so no spin on the ball. Disguised it. Looked like it was heavy backspin. So when you come under it, the ball pops up incredibly high. And we said about that forehand kill shot, she will pick it when it's the right time to do it. And how is it that Wang Mengyu yesterday was bent double at the end of seven games and Hangyin wasn't? Such a beautifully smooth style and beautifully smooth shot from both, but in particular Hangyin when she really chops underneath the ball. Such a lovely loose arm and she guides under it. She really mixes the amount of spin she can put on the ball as well. And it felt like an opportunity and you heard a little bit of frustration. She has to pick the right moments. Zhu Yuling will be incredibly calm here. Happy to play defensively when she needs to as well, because she has one of the best counters to topspin. Short technique. How do you know when to time the attack? Oh, it's so difficult, especially at this level. For both, to be honest. When do both of these players really push the gas pedal? It's normally when you get a slightly slower ball that looks like it's coming a little bit higher, so it gives you more margin for error over the net. Those lower balls that Hangyin is so good at keeping low. Zhu Yuling's doing so well on these pushes. They're not popping high. I said about keeping them low. Watch how low this stays. And we saw her practicing against these slower balls in the training hall, but there aren't that many opportunities either for players to practice against chop. No, absolutely not. And this is part of the real benefit of having a great coaching team around you because they prepare you correctly for the matches. So again, Zhu Yuling would have prepared differently for yesterday's match, for instance, against Wang Yidi than what she has done here. And it's so difficult though to play those shorter balls because Hangyin is absolutely able to control how much backspin she puts on the ball. Sometimes less to anticipate. If you lift it, it's going to go long like we saw there. Or she can try and really drain your energy and just hack it as hard as she can with backspin. Really close first game here. But you have to win the mental battle as well as the physical against these choppers. You do, and it's incredibly, incredibly tough. Both incredibly well versed in the mental game. We see Hangyin use those short pimples on the backhand, that red side. I'll try and explain what that means. It's a brilliant attack there. A great example of what's made Hangyin so dangerous here. Transitioning from defense to offense. She really did well against Wang Manyu by getting her chops deep on the table, landing them in the final 10 centimeters of length. Zhu Yuling will be happy to have got that point over and done with. She won't want to get drawn into too many of those kinds of rallies. Yeah, they're energy sapping, but she finds the ball and you can see there's so much sidespin on the ball. Zhu Yuling read it so well, fading out into the open space. And you heard the Cho afterwards. That was a big, big point. And that's the danger. I spoke about Hangyin keeping the ball deep on the table. If it lands kind of half table or shorter, what the attacker is able to do, if it's a little bit high, is step right over and they can hit the ball incredibly hard at you. Like there. If Hangyin gets that deeper on the table, it's incredibly hard then for Zhu Yuling to step into the ball. Like that. A stunning point. That's amazing from both players. 22 shots they traded there and they went back and forth. There was times where Hangyin got in first. Zhu Yuling scrambling to keep the ball in. She brings out that brilliant forehand down the line and it's so difficult to know where that's going. There's such a lack of backswing from Zhu Yuling. She contacts the ball when it's incredibly difficult to know where she's placing it on the table. And it brings up game point. Hangyin swipes at the return, clips the top of the net on the way over and it's Zhu Yuling. Absolutely, Hangyin. Really test your energy levels. And she'll start to mix, like she did there, the amount of backspin on the ball. If she plays as heavy backspin as she can on every single ball, Zhu Yuling knows what's coming. But if she mixes it, it becomes a game of bluff and double bluff. Perfectly timed attack. She's so experienced, Zhu Yuling. You don't get to world number one for nothing. Yeah, you saw how much that ball kicked off the push. It was absolutely hacked with backspin. Zhu Yuling coming through the higher ball with a little bit of sidespin and she just slapped straight through the back of it. Hangyin recovers the net. A bit of fortune there for the number 60 to take that point. Does it benefit the chopper or the person who's playing against chop to play a best of seven as opposed to a best of five? I would say as an attacker who has played against many choppers and had to try and keep the legs going in the latter sets. For me, Hangyin has an advantage here. If she can make this game and extend it past the hour mark. But Zhu Yuling is, she's not going full out on every ball. Similar to what we saw with Wang Manyu. Wang Manyu a bit more powerful, trying to crack through the back of the ball. It looks like Zhu Yuling is just happy to stay patient, happy to play 10 shots a rally until the one pops up that she can hit. It does become difficult once Hangyin starts to mix the amount of backspin on the ball. It becomes difficult to know how much you need to apply topspin to it. Well she wasn't always a defensive player Hangyin and now we've got Honoka Hashimoto of Japan who's another defensive player inside the top 10. Do you think we'll start to see a resurgence in this kind of style? I hope so. In answer to your question I hope so. Honoka has slightly different equipment so she actually plays with medium pips, longer pips and to try and explain what that means is that leaves her a little bit, it's harder for her to attack with them. She can get a bit more effect on the ball when she chops it. That's another one that pops up and it's a beautiful serving from Zhu Yuling. I think what she's doing is varying the amount of backspin she plays on the ball, opting for side spin there and that's kicking up high and allowing her to slap through the back of the ball and just kill it. But yes to go back to the pips, Hangyin actually plays with shorter pimples and what that allows her to do is actually firstly generate her own spin. She's not solely reliant on the opponent putting spin on the ball first but it also allows her to attack, it allows her to punch. She used a devastating effect against Wang Monyu like the shot she tried there and I think if we are to see a resurgence in this style it's more likely to be with short pips because you need to have that attacking game. I think you need to have the threat of when your opponent plays a weak push you can get in and take control as well with an attack. What is Zhu Yuling doing that Wang Monyu wasn't able to do yesterday? I think it's just staying patient, not trying to finish the point too early when it isn't there. She's also doing lots of damage on this serve. She's spraying it around the table to different locations. This one short to the backhand with tons of side and backspin. And we saw she was troubling Adriana Diaz as well with that serve. She's an unbelievable server. She actually ranked second. And that's the danger if you play a little too loose. Hunyan does have that forehand where she can come in and attack. Yeah Zhu Yuling to go back to her serving. She actually ranked second only behind Wang Monyu for the amount of points won on her serve as we see a brilliant forehand counter. That short technique really coming into play there. Zhu Yuling anticipating where that shot was going and it sets up six game points. 11 points to go. It was a more one-sided second. Not literally but land your shots deeper with more spin into the backhand I think. Yeah the more the more Hunyan plays to the middle of the table I think Zhu Yuling can just take a slight step to her left and dictate with the forehand attack when it's there. If Hunyan actually finds the width and lands it deep on the table it's incredibly incredibly difficult to keep attacking those balls. Those are the ones there where I think we'll start to see opportunities for Hunyan to attack herself. There are no real cracks in the armour of Zhu Yuling. Not at the moment. Not at the moment. It's a really impressive start to this semi-final. Zhu Yuling brilliant from both. Hunyan with a fantastic backhand to finish that point as Tamara Boris is happy. What I loved about that was both players were getting forced back away from the table and then had to scamper use that great footwork in. It's a brilliant shot but Hunyan you saw set it up with a wide forehand. She made Zhu Yuling step to her right to open up the space on the other side of the table. I think she has to try and find width here. If Hunyan can find width that won't be the one that wins at the point but it may be set up the kill shot like that. Zhu Yuling's just so tough to get past. Once you do attack her she uses that short technique to just roll the ball back in and force you to play another one. Other less experienced players may panic on those ones, may try to use bigger strokes to go into the net and miss but not Zhu Yuling. It's a brilliant shot. You heard the change of pace. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a timeout called from Hunyan sometime soon. She got the first one back Zhu Yuling but Hunyan was not hanging about. She wasn't and it'll be interesting as well to see if she alters where she plays her forehand when she comes in. When she goes wide to that forehand Zhu Yuling is tending to get it back and force her to play another one and that second ball she sent to the crossover to the right hip. Nearly perfect from Hunyan. It was a beautiful fast aggressive serve. Absolutely butchered that one out wide and then stepped in and just made a mistake. Yeah she needs to go forward lean through it says Tamara and I agree but it was the right idea. I smile on the face of Zhu Yuling as just to keep patient, keep steady. Calm it down but you'll start to see the sweat coming through on the face of Zhu Yuling. Does this start to become a bit of a cardio battle? Oh my goodness. Well it's certainly a psychological battle as well. Zhu Yuling quick to apologize here. It'll be interesting to see did this flick the net or was a bit of a miss here I think because it looked for all the world like it was going across court and it went up the line and this game feels tight and cagey. Perfectly timed attack. Why did Zhu Yuling apologize there? Hasn't the ball hit the edge on the final shot? I think it just went long as a timeout called by Hunyan. I think if you watch this yeah you see it didn't come up it clipped the end. Another edge but I think what Zhu Yuling is doing so much better than Wang Mengyu yesterday isn't the attack shots it's the one after it's these. There is no opportunity I know that won't flick the edge but in the three or four leading up to it there's no easy opportunity for Hunyan to step in and attack. Zhu Yuling's controlling the backspin so well. She's keeping these balls incredibly low and it must be hard for these players playing against chop sometimes to trust themselves when they feel like they're not getting anywhere. Zhu Yuling as well obviously a lot shorter than Wang Mengyu. Shorter or lower center of gravity so once you attack it's really harder or harder for Wang Mengyu to return back to ready position and lean forward and play that next chop ball with confidence but Zhu Yuling's just doing it beautifully. She's attacking and then she knows that next ball is absolutely butchered. She's controlling it. She's not giving any easy opportunity to attack like that. That one okay right on cue but the balls before it are beautiful. Is that bamboozling Hunyan a bit? Is she expecting an earlier attack? Not necessarily an earlier one but she's always hunting the opportunity to attack. She knows that's where she needs to do damage but there aren't that many opportunities. The quality of Zhu Yuling is just shining on those balls. It's such an intriguing exchange. Magnificent and a smile on the face. Zhu Yuling she takes a deep breath. That was an unbelievable point. I love the footwork on both players staying balanced all the way through the rallies. Zhu Yuling eventually finishing it with a wide backhand but you can see 43 shots they traded. It's an exhausting style. And if Zhu Yuling does make it through this semi-final of course she has to play again later today. Same goes for both actually but it's more exhausting for the player who's trying to play the defender. Absolutely and Hunyan had an epic seven setter. We've mentioned it several times just yesterday as well. It's a really good attack. A really good attack from Hunyan. She needs more of it. She sends it to the crossover instead of sending it to the wide forehand like she did earlier. Look at that. So difficult to deal with because the ball comes at you so fast. Comeback could be on for the German here. But it's game points for Zhu Yuling. This to take a three game advantage in this race to four. First saved. What kind of serves can we expect from Hunyan to best give herself a chance of saving these game points? I like the long heavy backspin serve she gave earlier. Well you must feel tempted. You must feel in a rush to get it finished off when you've got those game points and forget that you need to stay patient. Oh calling the timeout with the game point. The single game point remains. Unbelievable work from Hunyan. Really holding on. There was a brilliant flat hit from Zhu Yuling. I think it was a shot before that but she comes in with those short pimples which allows her when the ball is there to attack she can do it. She did it brilliantly to level this third game up at 10-10. Oh my goodness. Well it's Hunyan now who has the upper hand here. Big chance for the German. She's ground her way to earning a game point. Zhu Yuling saves the game point but she's not out of the woods yet and Hunyan will be sensing an opportunity here. And that's the attacking game that's starting to come in for Hunyan. She's starting to be able to counter when there's an opportunity. This is such a taxing style to play against. Well the return of Zhu Yuling almost knocks Hunyan off her feet. She brings the scores back to juice. She did so well to get this wide backhand that's coming in. Look back into the table. Hunyan looking to attack it. Had to defend it and then Zhu Yuling in a brilliantly placed attack here. 12-12. All to play for here. It's impossible really Joe to tell which way game number three is going to go but who do you think has got the upper hand? Hunyan to me looks like she's starting to drag Zhu Yuling into those same deep waters that we saw Wang Wenyu struggling with. Hunyan gets the job done. Wraps up. Such a brilliant shot from Hunyan. It looks like it's a really easy one to hit. She hits so many hard backspin balls there and then plays the flow tempting Zhu Yuling out to the wide forehand. What if Zhu Yuling starts to play chop? What then? It's an interesting concept. I mean it's not an easy thing to do to just step off the table and whip these back. Not at the level that these ladies are capable of doing. I think what we're seeing and what you saw yesterday with Wang Wenyu in particular, once your cardio starts to go, once the energy starts to go, you lose the power in your legs so you don't tend to get down as low especially on the forehand attack. Oh my goodness. Well that must be sickening for Zhu Yuling. And it means you start to second guess your technique. You start to try and over compensate in the arm, in the shoulders. And it also means it's more difficult to get down in that ready position and stay low and leaning forward for those push balls. So I wouldn't be surprised if Hunyan finds a few more opportunities to attack now off those types of balls. Both timeouts for both players have been used already at a relatively early stage in this semi-final. 12 of the last 16 points for Hunyan. Well a valuable point for Zhu Yuling who needs to accrue some more. I mean what was it that was different about game number three? Because the second was pretty one-sided with Zhu Yuling taking that 11 points to four. Game number three entirely different. 14-12. Yeah I think I think don't underestimate the power in the legs and what difference that makes to the forehand of Zhu Yuling. Also don't underestimate Hunyan's ability to start to get used to the amount of spin that's on the ball. The patterns that Zhu Yuling's giving her. She starts to get more and more balls back. Starts to get that forehand in. You see the amount of snap on that ball. Really use good rotation, good leg strength to generate the power. And it just feels like the pop out of Zhu Yuling's forehand has gone. And it means rallies are extending. I mean these players must see Hunyan's name in the draw and think oh no. Yeah she would be an absolute nightmare to try and play. Another big forehand counter. And that's something that Hunyan's really done well here in Doha. She's known when to go forward. When to launch attacks of her own. And it means that you can't play any loose pushes. Because she'll be in on them in a flash off both wings. Zhu Yuling actually does look tired in the arm now doesn't she? Such a grueling. Oh and it flipped the edge. It looked like Hunyan thought it wasn't even going to go on the table. She stood bolt upright and apologized. It's such a grueling style. You just get dragged and you get suffocated. It's like a boa constrictor just squeezing the life out of you. And you can feel it. Just cannot quite find it Zhu Yuling. And that one was cleverer. It was more disguised. It was less spin. A little bit flat. Really just use the arm to deceive. But you can see Zhu Yuling starting to get a bit more upright. But that was better. She's trying to use deception now. But even there it's so hard as well to maintain concentration. Well she's got a big task ahead of her Zhu Yuling. If she's going to stay in this game. Hunyan with five more game points at her disposal. And she could stay out there all day. She is very crafty and clever. And there are numerous ways to win points. Oh one of the ways. But I expect her to start varying some serves. Playing some short no spin. Just seeing if she can get a ball that pops up. That she can flat hit over the table and kill early. Playing with hooking forehands. Trying to invite a top spin to top spin rally. Just doing something different. Go to some of the other skills in a toolbox. To upset the rhythm. As we go tops pop. But after that massive win yesterday for Han Ying. If you can knock out the top seed and world number two. You'll feel like you can beat anyone won't you? Yeah absolutely. She'll also have a confidence in these longer games. Like I say she knows she can drain the gas tanks of these players. And once you start to lose that pop on the shots. That's when the counters open up. The ball slightly slower. Slightly less spin. And Han Ying just steps forward and counters the forehand beautifully. We're locked here two a piece. You can hear how much that point meant to Zhu Yiling. She did really well. Look at the width she's playing with. Forcing Han Ying left and right. And then driving a ball straight down the middle. Again if you're looking for someone who's a real tactical brain. And it's another one for Zhu Yiling. She's using that width now. Starting to try and move Han Ying around the table. Which coach is going to be happier at the minute? I would say given how the last two games have gone. I'd say the coach in the corner of Zhu Yiling representing Macau China will be. Because this has been a good turnaround of different tactics. She starts to get a little bit of the luck come her way now. And she opens up a four point lead here in game number five. But she's really varied what she's done. She's really tried to go wide early in the points. Until that kill shot presents itself. And I think that's a testament to how well Han Ying's been playing when the ball's played down the middle. She's been able to keep it incredibly low. Incredibly spinny. And back to the middle table herself. Point of the match so far. That was unbelievable. Again attacking both sides. Zhu Yiling holding the ball onto the table. Countering. Look at that one. Drops right down to the legs. Finds the open space. One-way traffic at the minute. And you can almost see a visible change in the stature. The posture of Zhu Yiling. The body language has shifted entirely. Han Ying is looking to become only the second European to reach a champions women's singles final. That's following her teammate, fellow German Sabina Winters, run to the Montpellier champions final. She had match points in that one against Rongyi Di. Bit of a fight back on the cards from Han Ying now. And that's a few times Zhu Yiling has attacked the middle of the table. And Han Ying has responded really, really well. Shifting her weight to her to play the counter. I think we might see Zhu Yiling just change direction on her next attack. Either wide forehand or wide backhand. She changed actually another variable. A slower spinnier ball requires a different shot from Han Ying. And it opens up six game points. A fantastic change in momentum. A fantastic tactical tweak. And you ask what would happen if Zhu Yiling just sits there and drops. Han Ying happy to play at that game as well. Change of tactic from Han Ying to save a game point. It's Zhu Yiling who regains her advantage. Continues the momentum that saw her wrap up the last. What was the key for Zhu Yiling in that last one Joe? Yeah it was much more subtle and nuanced play from her. She's not happy with that ball though that she played that presented the opportunity Han Ying. But it was much better width on the table. Well Han Ying she's got speed when she needs it. She does. She does. She's got a brilliant forehand. And that ball was kept in the middle of the table. And Han Ying does that really really well. Steps to her left and drives through the ball. Again watch for Zhu Yiling to mix up when she does spin up heavy. There you go into the backhand this time. Back to the middle and she suffers that forehand. You can see how much backspin Han Ying gets on the ball. Because Zhu Yiling when she's coming in for these defensive shots she's not putting any energy into the ball herself. She's being very gentle and the ball's just pinging off really fast. It's an indicator that ball's incredibly incredibly spinny with backspin. Like that. Changing location there. Spinning up the first one into the wide forehand. And then when you can put a bit more pace you can send it back at the crossover back at the body. That is a world-class receive. She comes in looking like Zhu Yiling's gonna play short the forehand. She just uses the open angle and accelerates her forearm through it. Brilliant work from Han Ying. Found the table as wide as it could go. Look at that. Maybe a touch lucky with where it landed. She didn't apologize though. So I don't think it did land on the edge. More on the purple line of the table. Now we talked about how tired Wang Manyu was yesterday at the end of the seventh game. But Han Ying she too will have been pretty done in after that. Just want to ask you Joe what the last 24 hours will have looked like for her to prepare for this semi-final and make sure that she's had enough rest. Yeah I mean she would have celebrated that victory. It was a brilliant brilliant victory. So you have to enjoy those moments. But it probably would have been 20 minutes at most. Then it would have been back to preparation for this match. She loads that ball. Oh it's brilliant. Brilliant from Zhu Yiling because Han Ying got her forehand in. But this time she was prepared for it. And look at the hooking side spin. Finding the wide angles. Brilliant from the former world number one. Han Ying covering some real distance there. Coming in and out over the table. Reacting to the fast ones. Reacting to the drop shots. So light on her feet. Well it's still a one point game. Han Ying of course must win it if she's to have any chance of reaching the final. And again brilliant from both players. Han Ying coming in. Dropping to one knee to play the forehand. But it's gone cross court again. Zhu Yiling reads the pattern. Holds the ball back onto the table. It was a thumbs up. She's reading the game incredibly well. Zhu Yiling. It's so impressive when this is such an exhausting style to try and play against. So it's a three-point lead. Is this the point at which Zhu Yiling pulls away? She's incredibly experienced. She's mixed it up in the middle part of this game. And you can see the momentum swing now with Zhu Yiling. Yeah it's a four-point advantage for Zhu Yiling. Closing in then on a place in the final later on today. Han Ying what's the strategy now? Difficult to say. I think she has to keep trying to look for that forehand. Don't lose confidence in it now. Take your opportunities. I think try and get the ball as long as you possibly can on the table. Oh it's difficult because even when you do that you put it into a good position. Zhu Yiling is like a shark smelling blood and she knows the end could be near here. That was great entertainment. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant Zhu Yiling. Knowing when to step forward. Knowing that Yang Ying was away from the table. Swipes it down the line and it is Zhu Yiling who is the first woman through to the finals.